pipe, noun
- Origin:
- EnglishShow more Special senses of general English.
1. Mining and Geology. [Special sense of English pipe ‘a vein of ore of a more or less cylindrical form’ (OED); see quotation 1985.] A vertical, cylindrical mass of volcanic agglomerate in which diamonds occur. See also blue ground.
1873 E.J. Dunn in Quarterly Jrnl of Geol. Soc. (1874) XXX. 54The contents of these ‘pipes’ in the shale are the same in all cases, and show distinctly that they are of igneous origin.
1985 A.J.A. Janse in Glover & Harris Kimberlite Occurrence & Origin 24The person who first introduced the term ‘pipes’ in print and who usually gets the credit for being the first to recognise the igneous origin of this peculiar kind of breccia in a matrix of gabbro, was the Australian geologist E.J. Dunn, who was at the time the Geological Survey geologist for the Cape Province.
2. slang. [Transferred use of general (originally U.S.) English slang pipe opium-pipe.]
a. A quantity of marijuana sufficient for smoking in a pipe; dagga pipe sense (b), see dagga noun2 sense 3 b. Cf. bottleneck sense a, stop sense 1 a.
[1967 Drum 27 Aug. 7Pyp or bottelkop: Drinking-end of broken bottle with silver paper filter (healthier than chilam-pipe because it can be changed often).]
1991 A. Barker in Daily Dispatch 8 Jan. 8Unscrupulous dealers are supplying deadly fakes, disguised as the crude pills. ‘Guys just keel over after a pipe. You say wow, what a rush, Then you see the guy is dead.’
b. With qualifying word:
white pipe, also wit pipe /vət -/ [Afrikaans wit white], a quantity of marijuana and tobacco mixed with powdered methaqualone tablets; see also button sense a.
1994 A. Donaldson in Style Oct. 43I was 17 when I was first offered a white pipe (a Mandrax and dagga mixture).
A vertical, cylindrical mass of volcanic agglomerate in which diamonds occur.
A quantity of marijuana sufficient for smoking in a pipe; dagga pipe sense (b), see dagga noun2 sense 3 b.
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